[vesw01]

Sorry I haven't been around in a while. With the car accident, my MBA and my recovery (doctor and PT appts) my time is thin. I have been getting along really well. I am hopefully going to be back to work the Monday before Thanksgiving and almost can't wait (although I know when I get there I will wish I had more time off).

A lot has transpired lately. After court a month ago, the parents and the agency BOTH received unreasonable efforts and progress by the judge. I feel vindicated because I was trying to tell everyone that for the last 6 months, the agency was not doing what they needed to. The never drug tested the parents - the entire time. The dad was caught DUI the weekend before court in March and wasn't at court because he was in jail and the agency never thought "hmm we should test for drugs and alchohol." Since my husband and I spoke up in court, the agency filed 4 allegations against our license. We were not even notified of them until Oct. 19th.

The agency and the parents both filed motions to have the verdict overturned. The court date was this past Thurs. The judge stood by his original ruling, which pissed them both off. So as retaliation, the agency took the kids from us again that night. Yup, no notice - said that there was a safety risk from the allegations - which they had known about for 4 weeks by this point. We have filed an appeal and should have that hearing this coming week. The girls are going to miss Halloween with us. I know it is just a day, but they had their costumes and a plan already. When we get them back, we will talk to the neighbors and see if we can reenact and go trick or treating.

So in the past (less than) 3 months. The girls have reported sexual abuse by the bio father, then were taken from us, we fought and got them back a week later. then 2 weeks after we were in the car accident, I almost died, was in the hospital for 2 weeks, were told by their mother that I was going to adopt them (that is a whole different conversation), started sexual abuse counseling, then they were told by their mother that she didn't like us and then were taken from us again and are no longer in pre-school. This is all from Aug. 1st until Oct 25th........

So many people have stood up for us and are saying that they plan on attending the hearing on our behalf. including the sexual abuse counselor. I am not sure what the rules are so I am not sure if letters will suffice- if they will I am going to ask their teachers to write one, especially the teacher who had our 1 fd last year and this year.

We have asked the pre-school (it is public school) to wait a few days before they give up the girls seats - there is a huge waiting list. I am going to have my husband speak to the principal on Monday.

Ok, so I am a little hurt and worried right now. I pray that the girls are ok and that God found someone like us to take care of them, until we can get them back.

Please pray for us, but more importantly for the girls. They are wonderful and should not have this done to them. A prayer for our 4 yr old daughter would be great too, she is distraught, all 3 girls considered themselves sisters.

My heart is ripped out, but I am trying to be strong -I have to for my family and the girls.

I wish I had better news. I am going to try to catch up on what has been going on around here. I really miss everyone!

Victoria

[stevenstwin]

Oh, I am so sorry to hear this! What a horrible thing to have happen when you were just trying to do the right thing all along. I'll certainly be praying for you and the girls!! Please make sure that you are taking good care of yourself in all this mess.

[punchkin]

I'm so sorry that you are going thru. Although I don't have any advice for you, I wanted you to know that you and your family are in my prayers. Sending cyber hugs your way.

[mommacass]

Prayers sent to you all.

MommaCass

[vesw01]

Things are not going really great, well I don't have faith. We are fighting so many different battles at the same time. We met with the DCFS licensing people last night and she said that there was nothing glaring at her to sustantiate the claims, but they are sending me to a psychological evaluation before they made a determination. I am going to go ahead and have a one done through my insurance company ASAP and not wait for them. We still have not heard anything on the appeal. They did receive the fax on Friday so we are just waiting. They did call and say that it should be assigned soon and that it was probably going to be assigned to the person who did the clinical review, but I am going to call today and request for that not to happen. Turns out that the clinical review person turned us in for the violations, so I don't think she is impartial at this point. We would at least like someone who doesn't know the history or have bad thoughts about us already. The DCFS person did say that normal protocol should have been two week notice.

It has been a long couple of days. I am trying to remain strong. It just is an emotional process.

Thank you all for the prayers.

[kxl164]

I hope things get settled for you all soon and I hope you foster daughters are doing OK while away from you, are you allowed any contact with them at all?

I would go up the ladder again, you can call one of your state delegates or congressman or something... or even the director of Social work for your county, state.

Good Luck, it is so impressive that your family has been through so much and you are still working toward helping these children, they are very lucky to have people who are not giving up on them!

[punchkin]

I agree with kxl164. Hang in there. I know it's hard now, but please don't give up. Those girls need you. I've been in the fight for my life for over a year now. There were times that I wanted to give up too. Times I wondered if it was all worth it. I ended up in the ER several times due to the stress of it all. I couldn't come to this foum to really talk to anyone, because it's what they consider a high profile case. I consider it one they tried to sweep under the carpet just to ease their workload. Now finally, after many, many months of fighting, praying, crying, and much more, we will be adopting our fs around 2-08. YEAH! Looking back i'd do it all again.

It's always darkest right before dawn, and it is at this time that your Faith is really put to the test. Hang in there, and know that you are your family are in my prayers.

[Withay]

Victoria -

Please know that we all care about you and your family (including your fd's). Keep coming here for support.